Viper and Drow only work so good because of their ranged slowing attack.

Veno is the only comparable hero.

They work so good because they're the only hero that actually harasses. They can use their harass ability often without regards for mana, they don't pull creep aggro for doing so, and they don't register it as "Going all in". Kunkka has a similar strength, but he's completely bonkers with the Torrents so that's that. Easy chars with spammable harass that doesn't cause the hero to aggro creeps is where Bots can lane decently. Bristleback once in the game should work out even though he's a melee.

They work so good because they're the only hero that actually harasses. They can use their harass ability often without regards for mana, they don't pull creep aggro for doing so, and they don't register it as "Going all in". Kunkka has a similar strength, but he's completely bonkers with the Torrents so that's that. Easy chars with spammable harass that doesn't cause the hero to aggro creeps is where Bots can lane decently. Bristleback once in the game should work out even though he's a melee.

While I agree with what you're saying of being able to harass, I don't think that dodging heroes without an auto-cast ability is going to solve the underlying issue. I would rather they worked on fixing the harassment mechanics instead of work around it.

After having a while to think about this I'm changing my answer to whatever the easiest heroes to effectively implement are, I don't necessarily what is and isn't easy for them necessarily, but I'd imagine this would probably mean characters with relatively simple passives and skills (for an example of a not so easy passive, Backstab from Riki, it in concept is simple, but implementing a bot with the goal of trying to get behind the opponent but settling for whatever they can get as well as his Invis passive decision making would probably be pretty tough) I'd think heroes like Jakiro, Void, PA, and Ursa (maybe even PL) would probably be likelyhoods, and I do like all of them, so I'd be okay with that.

On the other end, I'd much rather see the current heroes learn to build at least semi-dynamically before we get new ones (meaning they don't stack mek or pipe, or other such similar items. Fully dynamic builds are probably much more complicated than that to implement, I'm okay with baby steps)

After having a while to think about this I'm changing my answer to whatever the easiest heroes to effectively implement are, I don't necessarily what is and isn't easy for them necessarily, but I'd imagine this would probably mean characters with relatively simple passives and skills (for an example of a not so easy passive, Backstab from Riki, it in concept is simple, but implementing a bot with the goal of trying to get behind the opponent but settling for whatever they can get as well as his Invis passive decision making would probably be pretty tough) I'd think heroes like Jakiro, Void, PA, and Ursa (maybe even PL) would probably be likelyhoods, and I do like all of them, so I'd be okay with that.

On the other end, I'd much rather see the current heroes learn to build at least semi-dynamically before we get new ones (meaning they don't stack mek or pipe, or other such similar items. Fully dynamic builds are probably much more complicated than that to implement, I'm okay with baby steps)

Considering how much drama Zeus' ult creates, I think a FV bot should be delayed for quite a while.

And I definitely agree that some other improvements would be nice before new bots, as you say mainly their item builds, some of them are terrible, static or not.

Problem with Meepo (bot) is that the enemy bots are too godlike in their focusing

True, but with Earthbind+Poof a wayward Meepo should be able to get out of trouble fast. The over focusing can be a bonus for meepo, you can effectively get them to chase one meepo while Earthbinding+Geostriking the train with the rest.

Originally Posted by Arxos

I'd personally like to see some more mobile bots myself like Puck, Stormspirit, Slark, Nightstalker or Clinkz.

+1

I expect with the current AI Clinkz could work very well, though getting the logic right for his Ult would be key.

I'd love to see a Storm Spirit bot, he could be really dangerous if they get the target selection and chaining right. Mana management isn't exactly a bot strong suit right now though; I can see a SS bot zapping in and then not having the mana for his escape...

Not sure if it's a bug but the other time I created a Bot match (with cheats) and on my team I created a Chen hero, apparently it's automatically controlled by bots, although badly used (just like how most heroes are badly used by the bots).